Improvement in magazine fire-arms



A. SWINGL'E & F. A. HUNTINGTON.

Magazine Fire-Arms. No. 135,947, Patented Feb. 18,1873.

IIIVUIHUPS Wit messes AM PHD DLITHDSRAPHIC C0 MX( USED/M519 FROGESSJUNITED STATES PATENT Orrron.

ALFRED sWINeLE AND FRANK A. HUNTINGTON, 0F sAN FRANCISCO,

CALIFORNIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN MAGAZINE FIRE-ARMS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 135,947, dated February18, 1873.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, ALFRED SWINGLE and FRANK A. HUNTINGTON, of SanFrancisco city and county, State of California, have inventedImprovements in Repeating Fire-Arms; and we do hereby declare thefollowing description and accompanying drawing are sufficient to enableany person skilled in the art or science to which it most nearlyappertains to make and use our said invention or improvement withoutfurther invention or experiment.

Our invention relates to a novel construction and arrangement of thebreech-piece and magazine of that class of small-arms known asrepeaters, by which the shell of the discharged cartridge isautomatically removed and a loaded cartridge substituted for it by asingle movement back and forth of the triggerguard. The magazine or tubewhich contains the loaded cartridges we place in the stock of the gun.The breech piece we hang upon trunnions so that it can be oscillated, bymeans of the trigger-guard, into line with the magazine so as to receivea fresh cartridge, and in this act be relieved of the shell of theexploded cartridge.

In order to more fully illustrate and explain our invention, referenceis had to the accompanying drawing forming a part of this specification,in which- Figure 1 is a side view with the outer plate removed. Fig. 2shows the rotating breechpiece. Fig. 3 is a top view. Fig. 4 is aperspective View of the device for moving the cartridges into thebreech-piece, the slide being turned forward to show it more clearly.

Fig. 5 is a detailed view to be referred to.

A represents the barrel, and B the stock, of the gun. The breech-piece Gis provided with an arm or journal, 01, upon each side, which serve astrunnions for it to oscillate upon when secured in place. is chamberedout at F upon one side of the breech sufficiently large to receive thebreechpiece G, as shown, so that one of its trunnions will bear in themetal which is left on one side. A steel plate, 0, which is providedwith a hole in the proper place to receive the opposite arm or trunniond, is then secured upon the opposite side either in a mortise or bymeans of screws or other suitable device, thus confining The rear end ofthe barrel the breech-piece between the two pieces of metal. The rearend of the chamber F is made circular, and also the lower corner of theforward end. The breech-piece O is made to correspond in shape with thechamber, so that when it oscillates a close fit is preserved. Themagazine-tube G is placed in the stock of the gun lying in a straightline from the lower rear corner of the stock to the chamber F, withwhich it communicates below the firingpin 9.

Now, it will be seen that when the breechpiece 0 lies horizontally inthe chamber F its bore will communicate with the bore of the barrel Awhile the firingpiu covers the bore in its rear, but by oscillating thebreech-piece so as to depress its rear end its bore will be brought inline with the magazine-tube, while its forward end is so elevated as topermit the discharged shell to be forced out by the entering cartridge.Usually an inclined groove, h, will have to be made at the end of thechamber in advance of the bore in the breech-piece when in this positionin order to permit the discharged shell to pass out. On the under sideof the breech-piece we secure two frictionrollers c i-one near the frontand one near the rear end. Just below the breech-piece a horizontal baror lever, j, is secured next to the false trigger-guard H, by the samescrew which secures this trigger-guard to the gun. The upper face ofthis bar is formed into one or more curves to accommodate the rollers zt, which bear upon it. The lever-arm K of the trigger-guard H passesupon one side of the bar j,- and in order to allow it to move back whenthe false trigger-guard is thrown forward the edge of the bar is beveledoff in a curved line below the lever-arm, so as to let the arm move backfreely almost to its full stroke. At this point the arm will strike theshoulder on at the rear of the bevel, when a further motion causes thelever-barj to oscillate sufficiently to carry the breach-piece to itsloading position in line with the magazinetube. A plate orc0nnecting-rod,n, has one end loosely secured to the extremity of thelever-armK; and to its opposite extremity a slide, 0, is attached. Thisslide moves back and forth along ways above the upper end of themagazine-tube as the trigger guard is thrown forward and back, and has aclaw-bar,

1), secured to it, which, as the false triggerguard moves back catchesin a recess and over a shoulder on the rear of the upper cartridge inthe tube and forces it forward into the bore of the breech-piece,causing it to drive the shell of the discharged cartridge out at theupper end of the breech-piece. A further closing of the falsetrigger-guard brings the breech-piece to a horizontal or firing positionand enters the upper wedge-shaped end of the slide into a correspondingrecess in the lower corner of the breech-piece, by whichthe breech-pieceis keyed to its position. The spring in the bottom of the magazine-tubekeeps the cartridges close up against the breech-piece in the ordinarymanner of magazine-guns.

In order to fill the magazine, the breechpicce is oscillated to theproper position to bring its bore in line with the magazine-tube, andthe cartridges are forced through the breech-piece until the tube isfull. The real trigger-guard q is permanently fixed to the gun, and thefalse guard H fastens to it when closed by means of a spring-latch 1",which is operated by the finger and which engages with a hole in theguard q, thus securely fastening the operating-guard when not requiredfor use.

Having thus described our invention, what breech-block and at the sametime the old' cartridge forced out.

3. The oscillating breech-piece (J, magazinetube G, bar or lever j, andtrigger-guard H with its leverarm K, connecting-rod n, and slide 0having the claw-bar 1), all constructed and arranged to operatesubstantially as herein described.

4:. The slide 0, with its upper wedge-shaped end, in combination withthe recess no in the breech-piece for locking the breech-piece in thefiring position.

In witness whereof we hereunto set our hands and seals.

ALFRED SWINGLE. [L. s]

FRANK A. HUNTINGTON. LL. s]

Witnesses:

J. L. BOONE,

G. M. RICHARDSON.

